The present invention relates to skin treatment and conditioning, and in particular, to handheld devices and methods for microdermabrasion.
Microdermabrasion is a process for removing dead cells from the outermost layer of the skin (the epidermis) to provide a younger and healthier looking appearance, remove wrinkles, clean out blocked pores, remove some types of undesirable skin conditions that can develop, and enhance skin tone. The process of microdermabrasion must be performed with a certain degree of accuracy, so that underlying live layers of skin tissue are not removed or damaged, but that enough dead cells are removed to give effective results.
Various devices and techniques for microdermabrasion have been used. For example, some devices utilize a brush for removing skin blemishes which includes rotating metallic bristles. Such a device is more properly referred to as a dermabrasion device as it is quite aggressive in the amounts and rates of tissues removed. While this type of device can be effective for removing gross scarring and keloids such as those associated with burn victims, it can also cause scarring and is difficult to accurately control with regard to amounts of tissue removed. As such it is not effective for performing microabrasion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,853 discloses an improved microdermabrasion system which utilizes a treatment head and a external vacuum system to draw fluids through the treatment head using an extended tubing arrangement between the treatment head and external vacuum system. The fluids are delivered to the skin during exfoliation by the treatment head, and excess fluid and abraded cells are taken up by the vacuum system to an external waste collection system through more extended tubing. While such systems and methods improve over prior systems and may be effective for exfoliating the skin while delivering a topical solution to the skin, it is not self-contained and may not be suitable for simple, regular hand-held use by individual patients or users.
Thus, there remains a need for a more compact, handheld microdermabrasion device that is easy to operate and is suitable for regular use by individuals.